


The Aftermath

by CatrinaSL



Series: Darcyland April Fool's Crack Challenge 2018 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Animal Hijinks, Bathing/Washing, Charlie the Professional Moment-Ruiner, Couches, Darcyland April Fool's Crack Challenge 2018, Dogs, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Getting Back Together, Marriage Proposal, Messy, Post-Break Up, SHIP DARCY LEWIS WITH ALL THE THINGS, Sequel, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 22:33:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL
Summary: Darcy does her best to keep post-bath Charlie off of Steve's couch, and Charlie does his best to distract Darcy from her post-break up feelings, whether they are sad or ecstatically happy.





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [No Pets Policy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6112618) by [CatrinaSL](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL). 



> Welcome to the [Darcyland April Fool’s Crack Challenge](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/post/169715558929/2nd-annual-darcyland-crack-challenge-in-honor)! Today's prompt is Animal Hijinks.
> 
> This fic is a sequel to [No Pets Policy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6112618), so things will make more sense if you read that first.
> 
> Thank you to Aeneria, Zephrbabe, and SerialObsessor (ibelieveinturtles) for their beta skills!

Darcy sighed as she unlocked the apartment. 

Charlie jumped up on her, muddying her jeans, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She had merely sighed when she had seen Charlie rolling in the mud at the park. The dirtier her dog was, the more it fit her mood. She was going to have to give him a bath, but that wasn't such a big deal either.

Darcy didn't mind, really. Bring on all the bad things. 

She had just broken up with her Soulmate the day before.

Darcy shut and locked the door behind them as she reined Charlie in so that he wouldn't go anywhere near Steve's couch in his muddied state. 

Steve loved that couch. Soft dark brown leather, big enough for all three of them to spread out on to watch the Dodgers game. Charlie was allowed on the couch when he was clean and dry, but absolutely not when he had rolled in who-knows-what. And since Darcy wasn't sure what was going to happen to the couch beyond the fact that it didn't belong to her anymore, she didn't want to do anything to ruin it.

Not that everything wasn't already ruined.

She herded Charlie into the bathroom, where he jumped helpfully into the bath. One great thing about Charlie was that he  _ loved _ baths. Darcy pulled the shower curtain closed and turned on the water, flinching away when Charlie shook himself, splattering mud and water all over the inside of the shower. She wasn't used to that kind of thing, even though she’d heard about it many times from Steve. 

Usually it was Steve who did the dog bathing. She was more of a dog-toweler—she'd come in at the end of the bath and dry Charlie off, maybe let him out back to run back and forth in the backyard 62 times. They both did their part.

But now each of them would be doing both parts.

Separately. 

Darcy took her coat off and tossed it on top of the washing machine. She'd need to put it in with her jeans later, anyway. Then she took a deep breath, grabbed the dog shampoo off the floor, and opened the shower curtain.

Charlie was wiggly. He shook himself more than he needed to, but Darcy managed to get him clean and rinsed while only soaking herself from head to toe and completely covering the bathroom in dog drippings.

She sighed as Charlie leaped out of the tub and jumped up on her, tongue lolling out happily.

"You're lucky you're cute," she told him, as she looked around for a towel.

There wasn't one; she and Steve kept Charlie's towels in the cabinet next to the back door just in case he tried to come inside with muddy paws.

"Sit, Charlie," she said, but Charlie was too full of energy in his post-bath excitement. She managed to get him away from the door—at least, but hoped he wouldn't nose his way out or knock everything off the bathroom counter while she was gone.

" _ Stay _ ," she warned, as she backed out of the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

She was only gone for ten seconds. There was a crash and a yipe from the other side of the door when she got back, and she winced. "You okay, buddy?" she called.

Charlie answered with an excited bark, which likely meant he was all right. She hoped he hadn't broken anything expensive.

It was difficult to hold the towel out like she usually did and open the door at the same time, but she draped one end over her knee while she reached for the door handle, intending to pick it back up before Charlie rushed out at her.

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

Darcy was knocked backward when Charlie bowled out the door,  _ much _ faster than usual.

"Charlie,  _ no _ !" Darcy screeched, as he galloped through the kitchen. She ran to head him off in the hallway, cutting off his access to Steve's couch.

But he reversed direction and headed back through the kitchen, knocking over what was probably one of the chairs in the dining room. Darcy took two steps and caught him mid-launch. 

She ended up with more wet dog on her than the towel, but she had saved Steve's couch from Wet Charlie, so she counted it as a win.

"Crazy beast," she accused.

And that's when she heard Steve laughing.

Charlie started thrashing around in her arms in his attempt to go and welcome Steve home, so Darcy sighed and put him down. He raced into the hallway, skidding to a stop in front of Steve as he knelt down to pet him.

"You’ve made a mess, Lieutenant," Steve told the dog during an intermission between excited kisses, which only made Charlie's tail wagging go from half his body to a full three fourths.

"He rolled in something otherworldly at the park," Darcy informed him.

"Did he destroy the bathroom?" Steve asked with a grin.

She nodded.

He held out his hand for the towel, and she surrendered it gladly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here, buddy," Steve told Charlie as he tousled him with the towel. "You shouldn't give your mom so much trouble."

"I'm  _ not _ his mom," Darcy objected for the hundredth time. "At best, we're..."

"Roommates," Steve finished, looking up at her.

There it was.

The awkwardness.

Darcy had forgotten all about the day before while Charlie was rampaging, but now that it was just the three of them, calm and quiet (except Charlie, who was still trying to lick Steve's face).

"I'm gonna... go clean the bathroom. And shower.”

"Darcy, wait," Steve said, standing and catching her hand. "I quit."

"You... what?"

"I quit. You were right. I have too much going on. I can't draw comics during the day, do Avengers PR stuff at night, then disappear for weeks at a time to go on missions. It's not fair to you. It's not fair to call this a relationship if I'm never here to be a part of it."

"But you  _ love _ comics," Darcy said.

Steve grinned. "I didn't quit the comic gig."

"You quit the  _ Avengers _ ?" Darcy gasped. "Steve—you can't—you're… you’re  _ Captain America _ ."

It didn't escape her that she was repeating his words from the day before, and from the grin and the way he shook his head, Steve hadn't forgotten either.

"I'm going to back off PR stuff slowly. Thor's back in town, so it's not like they need all of us, anyway. And they're only going to call me for missions when they can't do without me. Sam should have been leading the group six months ago. He looks good holding the shield."

"You're giving up the shield?" Darcy breathed.

"Sam needs it more than I do," Steve said with a shrug. "And I need you."

"Steve," Darcy began, but Charlie jumped onto the couch behind her, and Steve had to rush to evict him from the apartment.

When their dog was sulking on the back step, Steve returned.

"I'm sorry I was an idiot yesterday," he said. "I'm sorry I've been an idiot for the past..." He paused to search for the correct period of time. "Forever. You're my Soulmate. And that means you deserve more than just my soul. You deserve my time. You deserve my loyalty. You deserve my whole heart."

Darcy was still a little stunned from his speech when Steve reached into his coat pocket. "I was going to wait for our anniversary, but..."

And then he was kneeling on the floor between two puddles of water Charlie had left behind, holding out a ring with a radiant-cut diamond in a gorgeous old fashioned filigree setting.

"Steve," Darcy gasped.

"I don't ever want to be without you, Darcy," Steve told her. 

Darcy started crying, and Steve stood up to pull her into his arms while Charlie jumped up on the back door, his toenails screeching across the glass.

"Charlie!" Darcy yelled, at the same time Steve barked, "Lieutenant! Sit!" 

Charlie obeyed his Captain, grinning happily as he sat, his tail wagging at top speed.

Steve turned back to Darcy.

"This isn't... marriage shouldn't be a quick fix. We've got problems, Steve."

"I know," he said. "And I'm willing to work on them. So I... understand if your answer is no for now."

"Then no," Darcy told him. "I want to say yes, but we  _ broke up _ yesterday. We should probably... get back together first, don't you think?"

"I do," Steve said, and tucked the ring back into his pocket as he kissed her.

Charlie yipped excitedly from outside.

* * *

Four and a half months (and over twenty baths) later, on Steve and Darcy's anniversary, Steve got down on his knee in the alley where they met and asked Darcy to marry him, with Charlie frisking around him doing his best to ruin the moment.

And Darcy said yes.

**Author's Note:**

> [Reblog on tumblr](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com/post/172492043483/the-aftermath)
> 
> Tumblr: [catrinasl](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com)
> 
> Twitter: [@Catrina_SL](http://twitter.com/Catrina_SL)


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